Happy Halloween!!

Miss Abby was the perfect little Lady Bug for her first Halloween. Her costume swallowed her, but she took one for the team and wore it for Mommy and the pictures.

Drew and Caden came over to go Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood. They had a blast. We took them around the block then back home. I think they enjoyed passing out the candy as much as trick-or-treating. As someone would ring they doorbell, they would dart for the door screaming, "More Customers!!"

Here's Drew

Here's Caden

We're gonna be on TV!!

Well, I say "we" because Mark 10:8 says, "and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one." One flesh. Our one flesh, via Stan, will be interviewed today during half time of the Angelo State vs. Tarleton State football game at 7:00pm. The game will be on channel 613 if you have DirecTV, CBSCS (CBS College Sports), or if you have dish, it will be on channel 152. So tune in to watch him.... or us! ;)

Here's a little proof that I am not a very good "swaddler". She always seems to work her way out of my swaddles. Stan must have took private swaddling lessons from the nursery nurses at the hospital because he's the best. The second picture is her getting mad at me for taking her picture and interrupting her nap. I think she is trying to get all rested up for tonight's football game.

We are so proud of you sweetie and we can't wait to see you on National TV!! Abby and I will have our own watch party here. And if I am betting money on it, I would say that we WILL be up when you get home tonight. :) We love you!

Look at our little baby Doll!!

As promised, here are some of the pictures that Jessica took of our little Abby Jewel this past Saturday. She is 6 days old in these pictures. What a keepsake we will have forever!! Jessica did a perfect job capturing our little baby doll.

This one is just for Daddy. Notice how small she is. She fits perfectly inside of Stan's softball glove!

JESS!! I love all of them so much!! I can't thank you enough. Love you!

One Week and One Day Old

Well, little Miss Abby is sound asleep and I'm sitting here going through tons of pictures of her, trying to figure out what all to post on the blog. Thanks to Stan most of you have already read about her little entry into this world. How blessed we feel to have her!! Here are some things that I have learned over the past one week and one day:


1. I learned that you can be playing a game of scrabble with family one moment and within a couple hours, go into labor and have a precious little girl. Miss Abby pulled a fast one on us and decided to come 5 weeks early. God's timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Here's a picture of my belly that Caden took. Little did he know that he would get to see her in just a few short hours.

2. I learned that Ms. Penny from Church is truly the baby-whisperer. Here is Abby completely in awe as Ms. Penny held her, spoke kind words and prayed over her.


3. I learned that if you have a small baby they may have to go through a car-seat exam before they leave the hospital. Did you know that if your baby FAILS the car seat exam THREE times you will have to buy a car-seat bed to bring them home in?!

4. I learned that my husband can get the car-seat bed out of the car, video the process and smile for the camera at the same time. Here we are...finally home!

5. I learned that after weighing in at 5lbs and 4 oz at birth, Abby got down to 4lbs and 15 oz. Here is Abby the morning of her 1st pediatrician visit. She weighed in at the same 4 lbs and 15 oz. And thanks to Auntie Liz, she wore the cutest little preemie jump suit.

6. I learned that it's harder than I thought to give your baby a sponge bath. Thankfully, we made it through.

7. I learned that you can lose your sweet girl in one of those hooded towels.

8. I learned that Miss Abby loves photo shoots. Jessica came over on Saturday to take pictures of her. Abby woke up for the whole thing and was so good. Here's a sneak peak of the pictures. More to come soon!!

9. I learned that some little booties have ties on them to help them stay on better! go figure. Here's little Abby today. Her first day with Daddy at work all day. We sure do miss him!!

What an amazing one week and one day it has been!

The joys of breastfeeding

It's Stan again. This time at 3:23 AM on Friday. We're starting Day 6 with the Abster, and she's not quite in the groove. Or should I say not quite on the boob.

Jill is struggling to keep little Abby interested in breastfeeding. Tonight, she's been crying quite a bit, so I'm up to lend a helping hand. However, not being equipped with breastmilk puts me at a distinct disadvantage, so I've decided to at least contribute by updating her blog.

And it gives me an excuse to squeeze in another photo of my little darling. Jill probably won't like it, since I'm in the pic and not her. Kinda like Confusious always said, "He who controls the keyboard likely to be the one pictured." Okay, he never said that, but whatever. Remember people, it's 3:30 AM.



This photo was self-snapped Thursday evening with my Blackberry. Little Abby had a belly full of milk and was just 'chillin' on top of Otis, Daddy's name for his own belly. Abby is a tiny thing, and hanging around guys like Otis doesn't help!

Well, she's settled in and appears to be eating now. I'd better run and get ready for my part of the feeding routine - giving her a formula supplement after she's done with the real thing.

Until next time, here's to a glass half full of breastmilk! Cheers!

A few photos of Ms. Abby

It's the husband again, just trying to help by posting a few pictures. There are plenty of pics that will eventually make it up, but I'm just posting a few to get started. Many of you have seen little Abby personally in the hospital (thanks to all for stopping by), but I know several of you haven't been able to make it and are dying to see her!

Also, be sure to check out Our365.com, which has the photos from Abby's hospital photo shoot on Monday.

Hello world!
Abby-eautiful baby!

Granny and Papa W.

Granny Jewel, of Abby's middle name fame

Pops Dougherty

Nana D. and Aunt Andrea

Cousin Drew

Mom, Dad and Baby

Abby on the airwaves

Stan here, trying to help Jill keep her blog content flowing. It seems as though she's more concerned with keeping her colostrum flowing these days!

For those who don't know, Jill's uncle Ron is a local radio talent at KLTY, which is the most popular Christian music station in the Metroplex. He is an on-air host during the morning and weekend shows.

Well, on Monday Mr. Ron made sure the KLTY listeners were introduced to little Abby.

Thanks to Aunt Wordy D, I learned how to place the clip on HERE for all to hear. Enjoy!

She's here!

Stan again.

After about 35 minutes of pushing, Baby Girl officially arrived at 12:10 AM on Sunday, October 19. What a blessing!

Abby Jewel weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 19 inches long. The nurses say she is perfectly healthy. And she was such a "big girl" that she was able to go straight to the regular newborn nursery and not NICU, despite being born at 35 weeks and 4 days.

Jill is doing great too.

More to come.

We're pushing

Stan: It's 11:36 PM and we're completely dilated and beginning to push. More to come!

The waters have broke

Hi, this is Stan (aka the husband).

At about 6:00 PM on Saturday, Jill's "waters broke." This was the term our child birth education teacher kept using, so I figured it must be official. Anyhow, I had been at the Cotton Bowl all day for a football game, and luckily I was already driving to the hospital and only a few minutes away. She called me at 6:30 after they'd determined exactly what happened, and she called again as I was entering the hospital to say "this is definitely it."

By 7:00 PM, they had moved Jill to Labor and Delivery. At first check, she had dilated to four centimeters already. By 9:30 PM, she was at six centimeters. The nurse thinks Baby Girl will be here in the next few hours.

Jill had serious back pain initially. She was administered an epidural at about 8:30 PM and is feeling much better now!

I'll try to update periodically as I can. Just remember us in your prayers. Thanks!

35 weeks!!

I can't believe we only have 5 more weeks until our due date!!! I had a sonogram this morning and the dr thinks the baby is weighing about 5 pounds and 1 ounce. She is growing so much!!

My dr informed me this morning that she would probably induce me around week 38, which will be Nov 5th. I will definitely be here in the hospital until then. But, that is only THREE more weeks! It's hard to imagine that in 3 weeks or less our lives will be forever changed with this new little one. She also said there is a 70% chance that the baby will need to be delivered early because something in my body will be triggered due to the high blood pressure and it will be time. If not, then week 38 will be the big week for us!

My pastor called me today and prayed for Stan, me, and the baby. His prayer quickly became my prayer for the rest of the day. He prayed that God would allow me to treasure this time of bed rest and look back on it as a time that I enjoyed because I became closer to Him.

Thanks to so many people, today has been a good day. So many people have called, sent emails and even come by. Thank you for your encouragement, prayers and kindness.

PS. Stan will be home tomorrow night!! YAY!

We're back in the Hospital

Yep, that's right. Back in. Back in the hospital. This time it is confirmed that we will be here until the baby comes. My friend from church, Jennifer who is a physician's assistant, came by to drop off some meals for us and I had her check my blood pressure. She tried to disguise the worry in her voice, but I could see it all over her face. She politely said, "I think you should call your dr." So I did.

Just within a few minutes, the dr office called back and told me to pack a bag. A big one. I would be here until the baby comes. At first, I felt like she was telling me the baby was coming right away and with Stan being out of town, I freaked out! But, I was able to calm down and am just accepting the fact that the hospital is the best place for me and the baby.

So Medical City is our new home for a while. My blood pressure has gone down since I've been in here. Although I think it goes up the moment that I think about the baby coming and Stan not being here. But that's when I just try to distract myself and take super deep breaths. I keep saying, he'll be here on Thursday.....over and over and over again.

Thank you all for your prayers!! I rest in the fact that I know God is in charge and nothing is a surprise for him. God has been so gracious to us and has a perfectly healthy baby growing away inside of me. I can't wait to meet her......I just want Stan to be here too! :)

So Far, So Good....

My dr appt this afternoon went pretty good if you ask me. I'm not on hospital bed rest this week. Yippee!! But, she did tell me that there was a 100% chance that if I keep going like I'm going that I will end up on hospital bed rest before the baby gets here. She said we will take it one visit at at time, but for me to be prepared with each visit to stay in the hospital until the baby gets here. :( My next dr appt is on Friday, and we'll see how it goes then.

My blood pressure was high when I got into her office and she asked me if I drove in to see her. I said yes, because she said that was okay. She said, "Well, okay. Not anymore. From here on out, you are not allowed to drive anywhere." So, no more driving for me. Because of this, I took the long way home from the dr office just to enjoy driving a bit longer.

She also said it is pretty much a guarantee that the baby will be here early. She said she wants me to make it to 37 weeks, which will be around the 1st of November.

My visit today was 3 1/2 hours long because she wanted to do a 1 1/2 hour long non-stress test on the baby and see her movement compared to her heart rate. It took forever but it was good to hear her say that the baby looked great and she liked her movement! Which is funny because Baby Girl knows when you want her to move and usually at that time she'll conveniently decide to take a nap. I'm surprised she moved as much as she did. But finally today she cooperated.

We'll have a sonogram on Friday to see the baby again. That should be fun. Basically, I'll go twice a week from here on out and either have a sonogram or a non-stress test at each visit. So my 1 hour office visits are now extending in length.

So far, So good. Thank you for all your prayers!! I'm back home, laying down. Yes, Stan, on my left side! :)

Bed rest over the weekend

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Saturday my parents came over and my mom put together Baby Girl's room for me. I mean, it was a MESS! I tried to sit in the rocking chair and tell her where I wanted things, but my blood pressure shot up again and I was back to laying down on the couch. So, it was her all by herself. She organized things, hung things on the wall, washed her clothes, took things out of boxes and vacuumed. Now, I may not ever find anything, but at least everything now has a home. She even made Baby Girl the cutest little toy box.

I was going to take a before picture but a picture would not have done justice. So, here's the after shot. Thanks Mama!!

This is a picture of the inside of her bed. The little outfit to the left is the one that we will bring her home in.

Here's the toy box that Mama made her. It's super cute. Stan said "Yeah, it's cute. Until Baby Girl decides one day to start plucking away and we have feathers all over our house." :) We'll just have to deal with that then. For now, it's so cute!

For the rest of the weekend, we watched football. It was kinda depressing, most all of the teams that we, or he I should say, were routing for didn't win. It was frustrating. Then Sunday was really strange with Stan going to church and me laying in bed. It's weird that I will not be back at church until after she is here.

I head back to the dr this afternoon. Please pray a prayer for us. My blood pressure has not been great this weekend. We really want what is best for Baby Girl and I want her to be safe at all times. That's it for now, I'll update later today after my appt.

We're home!!

We were discharged last night from the hospital!! I am just beyond excited. The test came back on my protein levels and there was virtually no protein there! So for now, I get to take my bed rest home to my own bed until the baby gets here. I know that time will fly by, but I also know that it's going to be so hard.

Stan is trying to keep my spirits up, ya know, by calling me names. He walked into the bedroom last night after his big win in softball and said, "Hey there Bedrest!" Then this morning he saw my urine jugs, as I have to give another 24 hour urine sample for the dr on Monday, and he said, "The URINEATOR!!!!!" I know, he's so funny. :\

My blood pressure this morning wasn't great. So, just keep me in your prayers. I'm hoping that it will just magically go down. I have another dr appt on Monday and I do not want her to admit me again on Monday. I want to have a really good weekend.

My mom is coming tomorrow to help straighten up and organize the baby's room, as there is lady bug stuff all over the place. Stan's family has also offered to come and do whatever. We are so thankful for everyone that has offered to help! We really appreciate it!

That's it for now, signing off from my bed.

34 weeks in the Hospital

Well, long story short, I go to the dr yesterday because I thought my blood pressure was a little high. Come to find out, it was high enough for her to send me straight to labor and delivery to be monitored and I was informed that I would be staying the night. "Can I at least go home and get my pj's and stuff?" The nurse snickered, "NO!, you can not even leave the building." Was she kidding me?! I know that she thought I was crazy because of the way I just sat there and starred at her. But, despite what she thought, I wasn't the crazy one....she was!

I called Stan and said, "Good News, Bad News". "Good News is that I lost 1 pound! :) Bad news is that they are sending me to labor and delivery to be monitored and you need to come up here." LOL. He was a little stunned to say the least!

Since then, my blood pressure has gone up and down and has constantly been on the high side but it's getting better. Hopefully, it will stay low. I have to capture my urine for 24 hours so that it can be checked for protein. Depending upon those results, there is a possibility I will be able to go home around 7pm tonight.

We had a sonogram this morning and got to see the baby again and Baby Girl is doing great!!! Plenty of fluid and weighing about 4 lbs and 14 oz. And she's definitely a GIRL....I had the dr check one more time. Because if he told me that Baby Girl was actually Baby Boy, I knew that they were going to have to admit me and call the psychiatrist.

All in all, we were given three options here: 1) Bed rest at home 2) Bed rest at the hospital 3) Deliver the baby. I was confused, I was waiting for option 4) None of the above. But, that was never said.

Jessica came by last night, showing off her cute new hair-do. Big Greg was also here last night because he came up for the 9:00pm feeding for the triplets. All the nurses are super nice to me because they all know that I am one of Kelley and Greg's friends and she was here on bed rest for quite some time before the babies were born.

Today's been an okay day. I did cry when Stan left this morning for work. Just overwhelmed I think. But today I've had lots of visitors to make me feel better and pass away the time until Stan gets off work. I've seen, Kelley & Big Greg, Andrea, & Tina. Thanks everyone for coming to see me!

That's it for today. I'll update again later with what we find out tonight and if I get to go home! Thanks for your prayers and all the phone calls!!!

Baby Caleb

He's here!! Baby Caleb popped into our world on Friday, Oct 3rd. Isn't he just precious?! I stole these two pictures from Niki's blog because they were two of my favorites. He's getting stronger by the day!! Niki and Rick should be able to go home today, but little Caleb will be there a bit longer. He's still trying to figure out this whole breathing thing. But he's getting better at it, hour by hour! Keep praying for him.

Here he is!!

Caleb Warren Carman

6 lbs 5 oz, 19 3/4" long

I love this last picture. It shows you how small he is compared to Rick's hands. So sweet. Speaking of Rick.....Rick recently accepted a position as Pastor at a church in Weatherford. Congratulations Rick!! Although last night in my dream, he was also a part-time doctor and delivered baby Caleb via C-section. Since I was there, he asked me if I wanted to go next and I said, "Sure!" So, he went at it! He delivered Baby Girl via C-section and also gave me a tummy tuck. (yay!!) But, Stan was no where to be found. I woke up so mad at him because he missed the delivery of our Baby! I didn't even get to see the baby's face because I was so mad at him and woke up. I think I'm still mad at him because he missed the delivery! LOL!!! My dreams have been so crazy lately. The night before last, I dreamt that we went to the hospital to have the baby and we were all so excited. Until everyone found out that I delivered a LadyBug instead of a little girl! UGH! I woke up in a frantic. I guess I HAVE gone overboard with the LadyBug theme for Baby Girl's room. you think?

Baby Girl's Fairfield Shower

Baby Girl and I has so much fun this weekend in Fairfield. My mom's family threw us a baby shower. And we were truly "showered" with gifts and lots of love. No matter how big you get or how you feel, your family will always tell you look GREAT! We both loved all the compliments we received. It was such a great day and makes me miss not living as close to them.

This was a quilt that my Aunt Retha made Baby Girl. It was made completely by hand. It's so precious!

Yep, this was my little helper as I opened up all of my gifts. Mr. Caden. He pulled this diaper bag out that Granny gave me and yelled, "Yay, it's a backpack!"

My mom gave me a dress that I wore when I was 1 year old. She also framed a picture of me in the very same dress. I only wore that dress one time, but everyone in the room remembered that dress. Because they all got the picture! It was a dress that my Great Aunt Tommie gave me when I was little, now Baby Girl's Great-Great Aunt Tommie.

She also gave me my bronzed baby shoes. Here we are kinda posing as four generations. My mom, Granny, Andrea & me......and Baby Girl, she's the hump hiding behind the dress.

Here's the 33 1/2 week belly shot. Drew's belly is hiding behind Caden and Caden is sucking his belly in. Probably because he doesn't want us to ask why his belly is so big, then find out how many cookies he took off the table and ate during the shower. Notice a partial cookie in his right hand........he's such a little sneaker.

I couldn't leave there without my very own pictures of Miss Melanie, Tina's little girl. She is such a cutie. Look at her perfectly curled eye lashes.

I snapped the picture here just as she was giving me my goodbye kisses. All open mouth and just precious.

Thank you all so much for everything you did. It was so great to get to see everyone and I can't wait to see you all again with Baby Girl!!! We love you guys!!